Artemis
by MeSapoet
Summary: Written for the USS Caryl prompt challenge. Takes place between season3 and 4. Carol learns how to drive the motorcycle and how to shoot the cross bow. She also ends up saving Daryl's life during a run for supplies. Slight AU. Rated T for walker kills...- -


Artemis

Kink prompt: Daryl's turned on by Carol wielding a bow and arrow.

Non-Kink prompt: Daryl shows Carol how to use a crossbow. Carol learning how to ride the motorcycle

He and Michonne had just gotten back from another long search for the Governor. Daryl was out cleaning up his brother's motorcycle from it's extended disuse, he and Michonne usually took out a car. It was safer that way, gave them someplace they could sleep without being snuck up on walkers, they could also pack more supplies in a car than his motorcycle. The other option was to ride horses but that didn't sit well for him, after his 'Chupacabra incident' as he coined the day he took and arrow and a bullet. They could spook too easily, throw either he or Michonne off and leave them for walker bait.

"Hey, brought you some food." Carol said walked around the bike to his side. "If I didn't bring you any, you wouldn't've gotten any." Daryl looked up wiping his hands on a rag.

"Damn vultures, the lot of 'em." Daryl answered as he took the bowl from her, his mind still on the Governor and his brother's bike.

"We're just not getting enough food, and other supplies are always running low." Carol was looking back the way she came. They never really talked face-to-face, it was too intrusive, too personal for them, especially for him.

"I'll make a run, there was a store Michonne and I found, didn't look like it had been raided." The bike could use some usage, and if the group needed supplies he could be in and out no problem. "Make a list of the supplies." He said as he began putting his things away.

"I can't let you go alone." Carol protested. "What if something happens, what if you run into trouble?"

He snorted, of course she would be worried. If he had told Rick, he would have written that list up and wished him good luck. "We can't spare anyone from the group and Michonne's busy. I'll go, grab the supplies, and be back before anyone notices I'm gone."

"But-" Daryl cut her off.

"The longer I'm standing here arguing with you the less sunlight I have." He knew he shouldn't get so short with her but everyone was getting too skinny while he was well fed, he was able to feed himself but everyone else was reliant on old food.

"Still," Carol was backing down, looking at him with sad eyes, he liked it when she would fight some.

"Look," He huffed. "If you're so worried why don't you come along and babysit me." He said sarcastically knowing she wouldn't do it. People needed her here at the prison.

"Ok."

He paused, caught off guard by her sudden agreement. He wondered if she had planed everything from the beginning. "Ok?" He questioned her not sure he understood what she was agreeing to.

"Ok, I'll go with you. I already know what we need, no need to waist paper or time scrounging it up." There was such resolve, such strength to her words that he had a hard time coming up with a plausible excuse for her to stay. So he gave in with a nod of he head.

"Alright. You got a weapon?" At her nod he got on the bike, then scooted back so she would have to sit in the front.

"What are you doing?" Now she sounded scared, though he didn't know why.

"Teaching you how to ride it. Way I figure, you can drive it around some when I'm gone tracking the Governor so it's not so bad when I get back." Still Carol looked at him, he gestured towards the front encouragingly.

"I don't want to brake it." She put he hand on the handle bar, taking a tiny step forward.

Daryl snorted. "You won't brake it. 'sides I'm right here if you do."

She gave him a flirtations half smile. "That's what I'm afraid of."

He ducked his head in embarrassment. This woman was going to be the end of him, trying so damn hard to get him to blush. But real men don't blush, at least that's what Merle use to say. "Just get on the damn thing."

Carol gave him another smile, like she knew exactly what he was hiding. She slid into the seat then waited his instructions with her hands in her lap. He walked her through starting it up and how to change gears and where to put her feet and how to stop, everything she'd need to know. A few times he had to adjust her grip, or show her something and by the end of it, he was done with the physical touching but they hadn't even left the compound so it was going to be a long ride.

Carl and Rick were the ones that opened the gate for them. They had fortified the entrance with heavy iron doors, the first thing they put up once the Governor was in the wind. Carl had a smirk on his face as he watched them go by. It could have been because Carol was noticeably nervous or it could have been because he was in the back, he really hoped it was the first one though.

Carol cut the engine in the parking lot of the small building. There was a small general store and what looked like a pawnshop or antique store in it. There where a few Walkers in the parking lot but not enough to worry him. Carol pulled a knife out of her belt as he readied a bolt in his crossbow. He had kept a look out for other bows or arrows for the group, they needed more mid range silent weapons, but he hadn't found any.

Daryl took out all but two walkers, Carol was hanging back, letting him take them out unless he director her differently. "Carol." Calling her over with a tilt of his head, he figured it wouldn't hurt for her to know how to use his crossbow, never knew if he was going to die and he would rather someone be able to handle it than it be set at his grave.

Carol moved over to his side, a question on her face. "Here" He handed over the crossbow to her. Carol had big eyes when she looked to him then the walkers. "Draw back the string until it catches." He drew out his own knife. There was no way he was going to let the walkers get them. Carol fumbled the crossbow but she got the string pulled back. "Notch the arrow." Carol took the arrow from his hands but dropped it before she was able to notch it. "Easy, stay calm." He dragged her back putting more distance between them and the walkers after she got he arrow from the ground.

"Ok, now what?" Carol said raising the crossbow and pointing it at he walkers. She had seen him wield the weapon long enough to know the general idea of what went on.

"Point and shoot. Look though the sight like the rifle," She did, "Good now pull the trigger like a gun." She held her breath. "Breath." he breathed into her ear. She let her breath out and fired the arrow and it landed in the neck of the walker. "Ok, reload." He had three more arrows for her to use up before he'd have to take them down with a knife.

She moved back again before reloading, Daryl nodded in approval as he followed her retreat, they were really going in a circle but the walkers didn't know it. Carol brought the bow to bear on the walker with the arrow through the neck. She fired again and this time the arrow went through the eye socket of the walker. Daryl smirked about to congratulate her as she turned with a triumphant smile on her face but saw the first of the walkers coming out of the woods. It looked like a herd, smallish but too many for them to take on themselves. He grabbed Carol by the front of her shirt as he dragged her to the pawnshop behind them. Carol looked back and let's loose a small gasp before she moves with him instead of being dragged by him.

The door to the pawnshop was rusted and jammed put he shouldered it in. He knew their chances for survival were better in the pawnshop then out in the open with a herd of walkers. A little bell went off as the door opened and closed. Cursing under his breath Daryl reached up to silence it. The last thing they needed was for the herd to head towards the shop, as it was it looked like the herd would just pass through the parking lot. Insistent tugging at his shirt had him turning around to face half eaten walkers slowly shuffling towards them. Quickly taking the crossbow back from Carol with only two arrows left, he noted grimly, Daryl reloaded and took to shooting the walkers making his way towards the back away from the windows that the herd could see. Carol was guarding his back, a hand or shoulder telling him where she was as she struck out at the walkers.

They made it back to the checkout counter in the back. The last of the walkers dispatched with his last arrow, his other was lost in the heap of bodies he would have to dig though to get it back. "We can hunker down behind the counter, wait the herd out." He whispered back to Carol, he saw her nod out of the corner of his eyes as he saw a door open slowly. They both dove for cover, him behind the counter, and her behind a row of junk filled shelves.

There was a walker that was dragging itself towards the end of the counter where Daryl was at, it was missing the bottom half from the ribs down. Daryl quickly put a knife though it's scull before pressing his back against the counter, his bow slung over his shoulder uselessly with his last arrow in the walker on the other side of the counter. Gripping his knife to his chest Daryl wasn't going to let the walkers get near Carol, sure she had pick up a few thing during the winter and with the fight with Woodbury, but she still wasn't up to taking down a group of walkers.

Tracking the shuffling and groans of the walkers Daryl waited for them to make their way towards him. He counted three walkers by the sounds of their shuffling and hungry groans. Standing up right when he guessed the walkers where within stabbing range he came face to face with a full walker, a bite mark on it's neck. Looked like he was the original. All the other walkers looked to be munched on. It must have been a death trap for all the unsuspecting people who broke in. Letting his own growl loose because he was not going to die in a fucking pawnshop, Daryl drove his knife in the first walker.

As he kept stabbing he saw Carol get chased by two walkers that came out of the door with 'Restroom' painted on it. There were only three walkers left in his group to dispatch then he could move to save Carol. His foot caught on something and as he tried to stab and get he foot free at the same time, he over balanced and found himself falling. Looking down at what caught his foot it was another walker that had been crawling on the ground. His moment of distraction let the other walkers get at him, he felt their fingers grab at his cloths as he backed up from them. Stabbing another walker in the head it fell on top of him weighing him down, his knife got suck in the decayed bone, he didn't have enough leverage to pull it out and he had three more walkers to kill without any weapons.

Cursing up a storm he tried to get the walker off of him and stand up and move back at the same time. He knew he was panicking and knew it was going to kill him, but he couldn't get himself under control. He didn't want to die like this and he still had Carol to protect. _Thump_ the sound stood out to the groaning and snapping of the walkers by him. _Slick_ it almost sounded like a knife or arrow finding the meat of the walkers. Suddenly one of his walkers falls down sideways with a arrow half buried in it's temple.

Daryl stops moving stunned, his crossbow was still on his shoulder digging into his flesh as he pressed his back more desperately away from the snapping teeth of the walkers. Looking over, as he catches another of his walkers going down with another arrow, he sees Carol outlined in the dirty light coming in through the dirt frosted glass of the front of the store wielding an olden time long bow looking like the goddess of the hunt he once saw in a book. She notched another arrow and put down the final walker, the one biting at his shoes, her face was grim and stern as she turned around and drove the point of her bow through the last walker. It was one of hers, it had an arrow sticking out of it's chest and was crawling on the ground towards her, tugging at her boot.

Carol looked over at him, her face in an exhausted smile. "You bit?"

Snapping back to reality he snapped his mouth shut shaking his head. He must have looked like an idiot with his mouth hanging open gawking at her. "I'm fine." Picking himself up off the floor he pulled his knife out of the walker's scull.

"Good 'cause I fond something you might like." She was flirting with him again he realized as she turned and pranced away down an isle. He took a second to gather himself, he didn't need to be tenting his pants in front of her simply because she wielded a bow and arrow like a bad ass. Searching the walkers found him with a mean looking knife, the handle was in the age shape of brass knuckles, but he figured it would work as brass knuckles but also as a way not to loose your grip if your hand gets sweaty or bloody or both. So he picks it up and slid it on his belt, he also pick up two smaller knives and three guns with a few loose rounds of ammo in the pockets of the dead walkers. "You comin'?" Carol called out.

Ducking his head at her flirtations even though she couldn't see it he followed her voice to her position picking up his two arrows on the way. She was standing by a shelving unit as he walked up to her. As he neared he saw it was filled with bows and arrows and guns with ammo of all kinds. "Guess the walkers kept people from looting the place." He picked up some more arrows for his crossbow, never could have to many in this world. "This where you found that?" He twitched his arm to indicate the bow slung over her shoulder.

"Yeah, used it like a baseball bat on the first walker." She smiled at him picking up a quiver full of arrows that matched the ones in the walkers she killed. "Thanks for the lessons. If I didn't know how to notch the arrows, I would be dead."

"We both would be." He agreed picking up boxes of ammo and stuffing them into the bottom of his bag. "Grab a few boxes would you. We can come back here later and grab the rest of the stuff but I don't want to run the risk of someone else finding it first if we leave all this here."

Carol followed his example and put a few boxes in the bottom of her bag. Daryl also grabbed a few military grade guns, never new if they would come in handy. "There's some knives and hunting gear over here." Carol called from two selves over. Daryl came over and checked it out grabbing a new buck knife and grabbing a few hand-powered flashlights. "We really need to hit this place. It's like a treasure trove." Carol said as she wondered around the store.

"You ever fire a bow like that before?" Daryl found himself asking as he checked on the herds status. The herd had passed while they had been fighting for their lives.

"No, first time." Carol grunted as she pulled an arrow out of a walker. "You didn't see the first few shots I took." She said as she walked behind the counter and started yanking on an arrow embedded into the wood there.

Daryl guessed that was the thump nose he had heard before. "Good thing then you got beginner's luck." Carol bumped into the counter as the arrow finally came out of the wall. "The herd's moved on. Let's get the supplies and head back."

On the ride back he drove the bike because he didn't what his little problem to become known. He didn't want to think about the ribbing he would get from her or the flirtatious remarks. She already flirted enough for him, though she was getting bolder. Feeling the fool Daryl never new how to flirt back at her, he'd never had to know how to do it before the dead rose up to eat the living and he didn't want to mess it up with her with bad flirting.

When they made it back to the prison everyone was happy about the new supplies and the thought of more weapons to add to their dwindling arsenal. Everyone was coming up to them and thanking them and Daryl just wanted to get away to deal with his fantasies in private. Carol kept sending him looks that made him think she knew what he was planning to do. But damn if it wasn't hot how she took down those walkers wielding an old bow and arrow with a little frown of concentration.


End file.
